Seth Klarman: Investors Downplaying Risk "Never Turns Out Well"

In his letter to investors, Seth Klarman noted that “most” investors are downplaying risk and this “never turns out well,” noting that most people are not prepared for anything bad to happen. “No one can know what the future holds, but any year in which the S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) jumps 32% and the NASDAQ Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) 40% while corporate earnings barely increase should be cause for concern, not further exuberance,” Seth Klarman's investor letter said. “It might not look like it now, but markets don’t exist simply to enrich people."

Noting that stock markets have risk and are not guaranteed investments may seem like an obvious notation, but against today’s backdrop of never before witnessed manipulated markets Seth Klarman sagely notes “Someday, financial markets will again decline. Someday, rising stock and bond markets will no longer be government policy. Someday, QE will end and money won’t be free. Someday, corporate failure will be permitted. Someday, the economy will turn down again, and someday, somewhere, somehow, investors will lose money and once again come to favor capital preservation over speculation. Someday, interest rates will be higher, bond prices lower, and the prospective return from owning fixed-income instruments will again be roughly commensurate with the risk.”

Author

Mark Melin is an alternative investment practitioner whose specialty is recognizing the impact of beta market environment on a technical trading strategy. A portfolio and industry consultant, wrote or edited three books including High Performance Managed Futures (Wiley 2010) and The Chicago Board of Trade’s Handbook of Futures and Options (McGraw-Hill 2008) and taught a course at Northwestern University's executive education program.

Related Posts

JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) has initiated a process to sell its physical commodity business for $3.3 billion by circulating offering documents, according to several media reports.
Last month, ValueWalk reported that JPMorgan... read more

Every morning the Street of Walls team puts out an update on market levels, today’s top stories, and active M&A deals.
Today’s Top Stories:
Greece Update: as expected, the Greek parliament Sun night... read more

Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE:YUM) released a disappointing earnings report yesterday afternoon that caused a massive drop in value in after market trading. The major problem with the report appears... read more

The Life and Career of Charlie Munger

Charlie is more than just Warren Buffett’s friend and Berkshire Hathaway’s Vice Chairman – Buffett has actually credited him with redefining how he looks at investing. Now you can learn from Charlie firsthand via this incredible ebook and over a dozen other famous investor studies by signing up below:

Learn from the best and forever change your investing perspective

One incredible tidbit of knowledge after another in the page-turning masterpiece of a book

Discover the secrets to Charlie’s success and how to apply it to your investing

Never Miss A Story!

Subscribe to ValueWalk Newsletter. We respect your privacy.

Are you an intelligent investor?

ValueWalkPremium is a website and newsletter for smart investors like yourself. We focus on the latest hedge fund industry news much of which is not in the public domain and obtained via our sources.

We also have 10 years of resources on how to use this information to better your investment process.

Sign up for today for only a few dollars a day and get a 3 day no obligation trial with a targeted 20% discount coupon code.